Categoría: DANIEL

The Bible – Old Testament

Daniel 

Chapter 13

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¹ In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,

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who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah;

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her pious parents had trained their daughter according to the law of Moses.

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Joakim was very rich; he had a garden near his house, and the Jews had recourse to him often because he was the most respected of them all.

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That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges, of whom the Lord said, «Wickedness has come out of Babylon: from the elders who were to govern the people as judges.»

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These men, to whom all brought their cases, frequented the house of Joakim.

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When the people left at noon, Susanna used to enter her husband’s garden for a walk.

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When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk, they began to lust for her.

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They suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments.

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Though both were enamored of her, they did not tell each other their trouble,

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for they were ashamed to reveal their lustful desire to have her.

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Day by day they watched eagerly for her.

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One day they said to each other, «Let us be off for home, it is time for lunch.» So they went out and parted;

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but both turned back, and when they met again, they asked each other the reason. They admitted their lust, and then they agreed to look for an occasion when they could meet her alone.

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One day, while they were waiting for the right moment, she entered the garden as usual, with two maids only. She decided to bathe, for the weather was warm.

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Nobody else was there except the two elders, who had hidden themselves and were watching her.

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«Bring me oil and soap,» she said to the maids, «and shut the garden doors while I bathe.»

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They did as she said; they shut the garden doors and left by the side gate to fetch what she had ordered, unaware that the elders were hidden inside.

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As soon as the maids had left, the two old men got up and hurried to her.

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«Look,» they said, «the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us; give in to our desire, and lie with us.

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If you refuse, we will testify against you that you dismissed your maids because a young man was here with you.»

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«I am completely trapped,» Susanna groaned. «If I yield, it will be my death; if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.

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Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt than to sin before the Lord.»

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Then Susanna shrieked, and the old men also shouted at her,

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as one of them ran to open the garden doors.

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When the people in the house heard the cries from the garden, they rushed in by the side gate to see what had happened to her.

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At the accusations by the old men, the servants felt very much ashamed, for never had any such thing been said about Susanna.

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When the people came to her husband Joakim the next day, the two wicked elders also came, fully determined to put Susanna to death. Before all the people they ordered:

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«Send for Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah, the wife of Joakim.» When she was sent for,

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she came with her parents, children and all her relatives.

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Susanna, very delicate and beautiful,

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was veiled; but those wicked men ordered her to uncover her face so as to sate themselves with her beauty.

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All her relatives and the onlookers were weeping.

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In the midst of the people the two elders rose up and laid their hands on her head.

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Through her tears she looked up to heaven, for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.

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The elders made this accusation: «As we were walking in the garden alone, this woman entered with two girls and shut the doors of the garden, dismissing the girls.

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A young man, who was hidden there, came and lay with her.

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When we, in a corner of the garden, saw this crime, we ran toward them.

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We saw them lying together, but the man we could not hold, because he was stronger than we; he opened the doors and ran off.

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Then we seized this one and asked who the young man was,

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but she refused to tell us. We testify to this.» The assembly believed them, since they were elders and judges of the people, and they condemned her to death.

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But Susanna cried aloud: «O eternal God, you know what is hidden and are aware of all things before they come to be:

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you know that they have testified falsely against me. Here I am about to die, though I have done none of the things with which these wicked men have charged me.»

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The Lord heard her prayer.

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As she was being led to execution, God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,

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and he cried aloud: «I will have no part in the death of this woman.»

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All the people turned and asked him, «What is this you are saying?»

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He stood in their midst and continued, «Are you such fools, O Israelites! To condemn a woman of Israel without examination and without clear evidence?

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Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.»

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Then all the people returned in haste. To Daniel the elders said, «Come, sit with us and inform us, since God has given you the prestige of old age.»

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But he replied, «Separate these two far from one another that I may examine them.»

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After they were separated one from the other, he called one of them and said: «How you have grown evil with age! Now have your past sins come to term:

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passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent, and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says, «The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’

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Now, then, if you were a witness, tell me under what tree you saw them together.»

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² «Under a mastic tree,» he answered. «Your fine lie has cost you your head,» said Daniel; «for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him and split you in two.»

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Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought. «Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah,» Daniel said to him, «beauty has seduced you, lust has subverted your conscience.

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³ This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel, and in their fear they yielded to you; but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.

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Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.»

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«Under an oak,» he said. «Your fine lie has cost you also your head,» said Daniel; «for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two so as to make an end of you both.»

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The whole assembly cried aloud, blessing God who saves those that hope in him.

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They rose up against the two elders, for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury. According to the law of Moses, they inflicted on them the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:

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they put them to death. Thus was innocent blood spared that day.

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Hilkiah and his wife praised God for their daughter Susanna, as did Joakim her husband and all her relatives, because she was found innocent of any shameful deed.

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And from that day onward Daniel was greatly esteemed by the people.

1 [1] 13, 1-14, 42: The short stories in these two chapters may have originally been about some other Daniel or Daniels Than the hero of the main part of the book. They exist now only in Greek, but probably were first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic. They are excluded from the Jewish canon of Scripture, but the Church has always included them among the inspired writings.

2 [55] 13, 55-59: The contrast between the mastic tree, which is small, and the majestic oak emphasizes the contradiction between the statements of the two elders. In the Greek text there is a play on words between the names of these two trees and the mortal punishment decreed by Daniel for the elders.

3 [57] 13, 57: Besides the evident moral intent of this story, it appears to have served the purpose of contrasting the northern and the southern kingdoms, Israel and Judah, in favor of the latter.

The Bible – Old Testament

Daniel 

Chapter 9

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¹ It was the first year that Darius, son of Ahasuerus, of the race of the Medes, reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans;

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² in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, tried to understand in the Scriptures the counting of the years of which the LORD spoke to the prophet Jeremiah: that for the ruins of Jerusalem seventy years must be fulfilled.

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I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

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I prayed to the LORD, my God, and confessed, «Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!

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We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.

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We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.

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Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.

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O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.

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But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Yet we rebelled against you

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and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.

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Because all Israel transgressed your law and went astray, not heeding your voice, the sworn malediction, recorded in the law of Moses, the servant of God, was poured out over us for our sins.

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You carried out the threats you spoke against us and against those who governed us, by bringing upon us in Jerusalem the greatest calamity that has ever occurred under heaven.

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³ As it is written in the law of Moses, this calamity came full upon us. As we did not appease the LORD, our God, by turning back from our wickedness and recognizing his constancy,

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so the LORD kept watch over the calamity and brought it upon us. You, O LORD, our God, are just in all that you have done, for we did not listen to your voice.

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«Now, O Lord, our God, who led your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and made a name for yourself even to this day, we have sinned, we are guilty.

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O Lord, in keeping with all your just deeds, let your anger and your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. On account of our sins and the crimes of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become the reproach of all our neighbors.

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Hear, therefore, O God, the prayer and petition of your servant; and for your own sake, O Lord, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary.

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Give ear, O my God, and listen; open your eyes and see our ruins and the city which bears your name. When we present our petition before you, we rely not on our just deeds, but on your great mercy.

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O Lord, hear! O Lord, pardon! O Lord, be attentive and act without delay, for your own sake, O my God, because this city and your people bear your name!»

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I was still occupied with my prayer, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, presenting my petition to the LORD, my God, on behalf of his holy mountain – 

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⁴ I was still occupied with this prayer, when Gabriel, the one whom I had seen before in vision, came to me in rapid flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

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He instructed me in these words: «Daniel, I have now come to give you understanding.

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When you began your petition, an answer was given which I have come to announce, because you are beloved. Therefore, mark the answer and understand the vision.

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⁵ «Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and for your holy city: Then transgression will stop and sin will end, guilt will be expiated, Everlasting justice will be introduced, vision and prophecy ratified, and a most holy will be anointed.

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⁶ Know and understand this: From the utterance of the word that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt Until one who is anointed and a leader, there shall be seven weeks. During sixty-two weeks it shall be rebuilt, With streets and trenches, in time of affliction.

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⁷ After the sixty-two weeks an anointed shall be cut down when he does not possess the city; And the people of a leader who will come shall destroy the sanctuary. Then the end shall come like a torrent; until the end there shall be war, the desolation that is decreed.

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⁸ For one week he shall make a firm compact with the many; Half the week he shall abolish sacrifice and oblation; On the temple wing shall be the horrible abomination until the ruin that is decreed is poured out upon the horror.»

1 [1] Darius: see the note on ⇒ Daniel 6:1.

2 [2] Seventy years: the prophet Jeremiah (⇒ Jeremiah 25:11; ⇒ 29:10) prophesied a Babylonian captivity of seventy years, a round number signifying the complete passing away of the existing generation. Jeremiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in the capture of Babylon by Cyrus and the subsequent return of the Jews to Palestine. However, the author of Daniel, living during the persecution of Antiochus, sees the conditions of the exile still existing; therefore, in his meditation he extends Jeremiah’s number to seventy weeks of years (⇒ Daniel 9:24), i.e., seven times seventy years, to characterize the Jewish victory over the Seleucids as the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy.

3 [13] As it is written: the first time that this formula of Scriptural citation is used in the Bible. The reference (⇒ Daniel 9:11) is to the sanctions of ⇒ Lev 26:14-16; ⇒ Deut 28:15-17.

4 [21] At the time of the evening sacrifice: between three and four in the afternoon.

5 [24] Seventy weeks: i.e., of years. Just as Jeremiah’s seventy years was an approximation (see note on ⇒ Daniel 9:2), the four hundred and ninety years here is not to be taken literally. Similarly, the distribution of the «weeks» in the following verses indicates only relative proportions of the total figure. A most holy: an expression used almost always of an object, the altar or the temple, but once (⇒ 1 Chron 23:13) of Aaron the high priest. The author sees the definitive establishment of the kingdom of God, realized in the reconsecration of the temple after Antiochus’ desecration, or personified in the holy community (like the Son of Man of Daniel 7). The Fathers of the Church almost unanimously understood the reference to be to Christ, the final realization of the prophecy.

6 [25] From the utterance . . . to be rebuilt: from the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy. One . . . anointed and a leader: either Cyrus, who was called the anointed of the Lord to end the exile (⇒ Isaiah 45:1), or the high priest Joshua who presided over the rebuilding of the altar of sacrifice after the exile (⇒ Ezra 3:2). Seven weeks: forty-nine years, an approximation of the time of the exile. During sixty-two weeks . . . rebuilt: a period of 434 years, roughly approximating the interval between the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile and the beginning of the Seleucid persecution.

7 [26] An anointed: doubtless the high priest Onias III, murdered in 171 B.C., from which the author dates the beginning of the persecution. Onias was in exile when he was killed. A leader: Antiochus IV.

8 [27] One week: the final phase of the period in view, the time of Antiochus’ persecution; he is Antiochus himself. The many: the faithless Jews who allied themselves with the heathen; cf ⇒ 1 Macc 1:11-13. Half the week: three and a half years; see note on ⇒ 1 Macc 7:25. The temple was desecrated by Antiochus from 167 to 165 B.C. The temple wing: probably the main portal. The horrible abomination: see note on ⇒ Daniel 8:13. Perhaps an inscription was placed on the portal of the temple dedicating it to the Olympian Zeus. Our Lord referred to this passage in his own prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem (⇒ Matthew 24:15).